


What Heroes Do

by ThisStrangeObsession



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Thaddeus Ross (mentioned) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22670716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisStrangeObsession/pseuds/ThisStrangeObsession
Summary: Almost two years after Thanos snapped half the universe out of existence, Bruce Banner has achieved the impossible: a merger with the Hulk.But the US military doesn't do compromise, and with the army on its way to claim the strongest Avenger for their own once and for all, Bruce must make a final stand.
Kudos: 8





	What Heroes Do

“Rise and shine, Jolly Green!”

Bruce groaned at Tony’s chipper voice over the embedded speaker in the 20-ft ceiling and fumbled for his bedside lamp. His giant hand crushed it like so much tinfoil, breaking it in two, and as he let go, crumpled bits of metal scattered on the floor.

He’d been training himself for days now to interact with ordinary objects, but when the world suddenly seemed made of tissue paper, even the slightest miscalculation could mean disaster. Banner didn’t know how to properly apply such force; Hulk had never had reason to hold back. Until he’d mastered his strength, isolation was the only solution, and the empty Stark Industries research facility he’d used for his latest – and last – gamma experiment had become his new home.

“What time is it?” he asked, and sat up, instantly alert. He didn’t need to sleep – or eat, or drink, or even breathe, if it came right down to it – but alone and struggling to adjust, familiar habits were all he had to remind him of his humanity.

“2 am MST. FRIDAY just sent an alert. You’ve got company.”

He rose and went to his desk, a motion-activated digital interface springing to life, and it showed a fleet of tanks a dozen miles out.

“Military,” he said, disappointed but unsurprised. It had only been a matter of time. That they’d waited until the merger was complete meant they still had only one mission: to use him as a weapon.

Bruce could almost hear Tony’s irritated smirk. “They really need to get another hobby.”

“They did.” With a careful swipe of a large green finger, he turned off the display. “Didn’t turn out too well for the rest of you guys.”

Tony paused. “You warned me about Ross. I should’ve listened.”

The Sokovia Accords. Bruce had been livid when he found out about Tony’s cooperation with his former boss and wannabe captor – the kind of mad that would’ve made him see green if his alter ego hadn’t still been fuming over Thanos. Since then, all involved had gained a little more perspective. “You had a lot to lose.”

“And we did.” They weren’t just talking about the team separating anymore. Tony quickly moved on. “Their ETA is about five minutes. Put on your purple stretchy pants and meet ‘em out front before they blow up my stuff.”

Bruce sighed. He could take anything they threw at him, but the building – and its millions of dollars worth of equipment – would be reduced to rubble. It was nothing compared to the destruction and carnage that would result if he became an asset for Earth’s most bloodthirsty empire. The US’s profit-fueled endless wars made even Thanos’ misguided tyranny seem benevolent in comparison. He would never be their weapon.

“You know I can’t let them take me in, Tony,” he said.

“Nor should you. I just feel sorry for the poor suckers who signed up for this suicide mission.”

Bruce shook his head. “I’m not going to hurt them.”

The first rule Banner had insisted upon was that they’d never kill a human, or anyone else, unless innocent lives were at risk, and out here, he was the only target.

“Way to be the bigger man, Brucie,” Tony quipped, in the distracted way that meant he was already three steps ahead of the conversation. “I’m calling in my legal team.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got a lawyer,” Bruce said.

He just hoped Jen was up to the task. If there was one thing he’d learned from the Avengers’ separation, it was that family meant everything, whatever form it took. Reconnecting with what was left of his, both biological and chosen, had been an important part of moving forward after the Snap. Once the dust settled after this encounter – an unfortunate euphemism, given recent events – would they still be on his side? But he’d been alone before. No matter what happened, he’d survive. Sometimes, that was the worst part.

“Suit yourself. I’ll reach out to the DOD, see if I can find out who authorized this idiocy.”

“Thanks.” He heard them now, still a few miles off, tanks speeding through the rocky New Mexico wilderness toward him, joined by various aircraft. “I have to go.”

“Stay angry, Big Guy,” Tony said.

Bruce nodded. “Stay safe.”

After backing up his work one last time and making sure it saved to Tony’s secure servers elsewhere, he did indeed don the custom black and purple uniform Tony had designed. It was supposed to be for defending Earth from outside threats, not inside – then again, there was no bigger threat to Earth right now than those who wanted to control him.

Outside, he waited, but not for long. Fifty tanks rolled in from all directions. Dozens of helicopters circled overhead with spotlights. Fighter jets flew thousands of feet above them. As a spectacle, it was impressive. Realistically, they might as well have shown up with toy trucks and paper airplanes.

One armored vehicle emerged from the appropriately green-painted cohort, the size of a freighter truck, and he had no doubt that he was its intended cargo. They thought they’d herd him into a transport cage like livestock, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it were made of vibranium. Once the Wakandan borders had opened, it wouldn’t have taken any time at all for the US to stockpile it through shadow corporations across the globe. Didn’t matter. He could still crush it like a tin can.

“Dr. Banner,” someone called over a speaker. Bruce heard both the amplified voice and the man as he spoke – inside a tank far in the back. Coward. “You’re under arrest.”

“On what charge?” he asked.

“The murder of civilians in South Africa.”

Bruce almost flinched. It was bad enough to have heard what had happened, but to remember it now – to know that the illusions of his father had been people – hit harder than the object of his nightmares ever had. “That was under Wanda Maximoff’s influence. I wasn’t in control.”

“A dead woman can’t corroborate.”

Fair point. But there was zero chance they intended to hand him over to a foreign government. This wasn’t about justice – it was about power.

“Ask Tony Stark,” he said. 

The man ignored him. “During your unauthorized absence, the US ratified the Sokovia Accords. Are you aware of them?”

“Yes.”

“Then you know you’re under its jurisdiction.”

“Unless I retire,” he replied.

Not that that was really the plan. If the world needed him, he’d be there. He would always be an Avenger – just not theirs.

“I think what you’ve accomplished here effectively eliminates that option.”

“No, it leads directly to it. This—” he opened the great span of his arms “—means I can make definitive choices now. And I choose to leave.”

“Then you can call your former teammates as witnesses at your trial. For now, you’re in our custody.”

Bruce gave a wry smirk, the kind that belonged solely to the human former half. “What if I say no?”

It seemed a lifetime ago he’d last asked that question. But now there was no possibility of persuasion, no Other Guy to control – this was their choice, his choice, and he’d already made it. The man in the tank paused, and Bruce wished he were a little closer, so he could hear the man’s heartbeat race in fear like the poor nearby soldiers he had led here to die.

“Are you resisting arrest?” the man finally asked.

The smirk faded, and he crossed his arms. “I’d rather avoid a fight.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ll win,” Bruce answered simply.

Another pause. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s a fact. Telling you I’ll launch your tank into orbit if you give the order to fire is a threat.”

Even he wasn’t sure if he was bluffing. Whoever was in command certainly didn’t think so, if the desperately enraged response was anything to go by.

“If you’d dare attack the US Military, maybe your genius intellect didn’t survive this merger after all. You might kill me, but you’ll lose everything.”

“I already did,” Bruce said, his decidedly Hulk-like sneer baring teeth. It wasn’t the supposed monster who had ruined his life – it was the man who had hunted him. “Thaddeus Ross took my career, my home, five years of my life.”

“And you took the lives of dozens of military personnel on three separate continents.”

“In self-defence! I blamed myself for years, did everything I could to ensure it never happened again, but now I know the truth—those soldiers’ blood was on Ross’ hands. Do you want theirs on yours?” he asked, gesturing to the forces around them.

For one terrible moment, he considered it. Tearing through their tanks like tinfoil. Reaching in and grabbing the screaming soldiers as they tried to flee. Hearing the satisfying crunch of breaking bones and squelch of bursting flesh between his fingers, cracking skulls like eggshells and grinding them into paste beneath his feet. Nothing left but twisted metal scraps and smears of crimson drying into rust under the harsh New Mexico sun come morning. It would send an unmistakable message: leave me alone.

But if he succumbed to that – to killing those who posed only annoyance, not threat – he would become the monster he’d always feared. Ross would win.

“I’m not going to fight you,” he said, “but I’m not going with you, either, and there’s nothing on Earth strong enough to move me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Bruce grinned, clenching his fists. “I’m the strongest there is. I could break this world if I wanted to. Or I could run – I’ve done that before, too. But I won’t,” he replied, remembering something a friend had once said. “I choose to run toward my problems, not away from them. Because that’s what heroes do.”

“You’re not a hero. You’re a monster.”

Bruce shook his head. “I was never a monster.”

A long pause. Someone else’s muffled orders over the radio, just out of Bruce’s range of hearing. Finally, the man in command spoke to his own soldiers. 

“Back to base.”

*****

The next day, a representative with the Department of Justice arrived in a regular black sedan, alone, unarmed, and shaking like a leaf as he approached the research facility’s front entrance. Bruce invited him in for tea.

By the time the man left, he had made a new friend, and a deal: exoneration for himself and the other Avengers, a guarantee of no further attempts at recruitment, and the promise of a voluntary working relationship should the occasion arise. He hoped it never would.


End file.
